[Boggnials]

I have a Bichir Eel, more commonly know as a Dinosaur Eel, it is the only fish in the tank. What other fish could i put in the tank with it? I was told it eats live fish. Would the Red Rosey Feeder Fish and Ghost Shrimp be good meals for it? Thanks for all of you help those who help!!

[CFC]

Feeders/shrimps do not make a good diet and should be used along with other foods such as carnivor pellets bloodworms earthworms and meaty frozen foods such as mussels squid and cockles to provide a good varied diet.
They are relatively peaceful as long as there are plenty of hiding places but due to their predatory nature tankmates should be at least half as big as the bichir,they will not do well with overly aggressive tankmates (ie central american cichlids) either.
Do you know which particular species of bichir you have? There are quite a few and they vary in size from 12 to 35 inches.

BTW what is it with this dinosaur eel thing,thats the second time ive heard them called that in as many weeks and never before that.I wish shops would stop creating ficticious names just to make the fish sound trendy,it makes it very difficult for people to find info on their new fish if they dont know the true name.

[ste2k3]

the fish that you have is a polypterus. there are many diferent species but the two most commonly available (in UK that is) are polypterus sengalus and the Polypterus ornatipinnus. the later grows to 18" and would need a 4' tank. the first one grows to about 10" and would requirea 3' tank. provide it with some shelter. these fish can swallow extreemly large prey whole so be carefull. for a 10" fish, I would not kep anything less than 3" in the same tank. for the 18" fish, i would make sure that any tankmates are over 5". just avoid keeping them with aggressive cichlids and simular fish.

stunning fish.

[Boggnials]

all i know is that it is part of the bichir family. the sign at petco called it a dinosaur eel. i wish i could find out the seientific name of this stupid fish. the one im looking at gets to be about 10"-12" in length. it is the sweetest fish i have seen in any store. i dont know what to put in the tank with it. i wanna put a red-tailed black shark in it. would this be ok? if you have any other reccomendations i would greatly appreaciate them. right now i have 2 golden mollys in the tank. they are just to help get the biological system up and going before i put anyother expensive fish in it. thanks for the imput!! B)

[impur]

Quote

BTW what is it with this dinosaur eel thing,thats the second time ive heard them called that in as many weeks and never before that.I wish shops would stop creating ficticious names just to make the fish sound trendy,it makes it very difficult for people to find info on their new fish if they dont know the true name.

I donno what the deal is either. How hard is it to call the thing a senegal bichir or ornate bichir. The people buy the fish, not the name. It the damn chain stores doin it.

So is this your fish?

[tdnp]

I've got two senagal bichir's in a 4foot tank with a fully grown red-finned shark and a large pangasius cat and thre large plec's I also used to keep a Green Terror cichlid but he died a couple of weeks ago from old age R.I.P. I know everyone says don't keep them together but when I bought them they were the only two I'd ever seen I didn't even know what they were or what I need to feed them on but I still bought them what a top class fish they are. I now feed mine on Lance fish. I find them to be quite friendly coming up to you when you look in. mine normanally swim together hang out together feed together so I think I might have a male and a female. A warning I did get told that they do have a lung so they can survive out of water so make sure you have a heavy tight fitting lid

[Boggnials]

yah that looks like the fish i am not too shure what the actual name of the fish is but i will be getting it so i can tell you later

[cory]

I have my bichir in with corys, lots of corys. He's 7" long and swims around and plays with even the tiniest of them.

The bicher was called a dinosaur eel when I purchased him. I was told that he'd grow to be around 10" long, was peaceful, however, would eat small fish, but, not catfish. I couldn't find any info on the net, or in books--but did find this place, by way of Google.

Anyway, I've had him for a month and a half, but, now, after looking around on this site, I'm left wondering about my corys.

Damn impulse purchase!

This post has been edited by cory: 18 August 2003 - 06:46 PM

[Boggnials]

hey cory

you shouldnt get ride of your bichir. i was talking to a lady at my lfs and she said she has hers in her tank with tetras and guppies and other fish and they dont get harrassed as long as you feed them plenty. if you still wanna get ride of the bichir let me know. email me at Littleboy21@sbcglobal.net. i am getting my new aquarim geared for a bichir. i will gladly take it in.

[cory]

Boggnials, on Aug 19 2003, 07:26 PM, said:

hey cory

you shouldnt get ride of your bichir. i was talking to a lady at my lfs and she said she has hers in her tank with tetras and guppies and other fish and they dont get harrassed as long as you feed them plenty. if you still wanna get ride of the bichir let me know. email me at Littleboy21@sbcglobal.net. i am getting my new aquarim geared for a bichir. i will gladly take it in.

:fish:I'm still making up my mind on the bicher. I've bought a new larger aquarium(150), and may leave him/her in the other aquarium. I'm inclined to think your friend is right, this eel is very gentle with these smaller fish. I've researched the bichir a little further and believe this one is the smaller of the bichers and won't get too much bigger than he is.

I feed him shrimp pellets and he really goes for the flakes and the small cychlid pellets.

Bogg, I will keep your email address for future reference. I'd either give him away to a good home, or return him for credit. I don't do the "fish flush." Since I do a lot of business at this particular store where he came from, they'll give me full credit.

[Boggnials]

8) good i ahte to do the fishy flush. well let me know how the little guy is doing. do you have any pics? if you do cna you please email them to me. thanks. 8)

[cory]

Boggnials, on Aug 22 2003, 04:38 PM, said:

8) good i ahte to do the fishy flush. well let me know how the little guy is doing. do you have any pics? if you do cna you please email them to me. thanks. 8)

:fish:I'll be posting some pictures before too long. I'm sure mine won't be as good as so many of the people's pictures that I've seen here. Some are so perfect they look like they came from a book. Hopefully my new tank after I finish cycling and getting it set up properly will look so good. But hey, they'll be unique in that they're mine.

[blisterbug]

I have had a senegal bichir for a little over two years. It is about nine inches long. I recently gave away his tankmates (two silver dollars and a plecostymus that was outgrowing the tank) and put a three inch tiger oscar in with him. In no time the oscar was being terratorial, harrasing my bichir, so I put the bichir in a smaller tank (15 gal.) that I had set up with some small native fish. Of course the small native fish did not last long. Now bichir pretty much ignores his former staple dry food. All he wants is live feeders!

[david27]

I've got got five species of bichir's i wouldn't keep them with any small fish because as the light drops instincts take over!!!. I don't feed mine on pellets as they tend to gourge themselves and then the pellets swell up and this can cause complications. Also only feed them 2-3 times a week because overfeeding can also cause health problems. I use sand as a subtrate because they don't have very good eyesight and can easily swallow gravel which then blocks their intestines which results in death, something i learnt the hard way. For tank mates i would choose large plecos, tyre track eels, shovel nose catfish, and perhaps severums, oscars. But whatever you choose make sure that it is at least 4" long and is settled before night because if it doesn't seem to be strong they will have a go at eating it.

[blisterbug]

Feed only 2-3 times a week? Thats a new one on me. I've been feeding daily, and his appetite is so great he might come after me if I cut back! Something else I've been wondering about. If feeding live fish, how do you safegaurd against introducing disease to your tank? Any ideas/opinions?

[CFC]

It is best to try and ween your bichirs off of live feeders IMO, feeders are not a good source of nutrition for any fish and your bichir will be healthier on a diet of meaty frozen foods (fish,cockles,mussels ect) worms (bloodworms and earthworms) shrimp (live or uncooked fresh/frozen) and pellets intended for carnivorous fish.
I have 3 species of bichir and i too only feed them 3 times a week (under 10" i fed them everyday).With any predatory fish it is best to only feed 2 or 3 times a week,feed them as much as they can eat in about 5 minutes (so their stomachs are noticably rounded) and then let them take at least 48 hours to digest the meal.By feeding again too early it may cause the fish to regurgitate some of the last meal which can seriously affect bacteria colonies within the filter.

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Boggnials, on Aug 19 2003, 08:26 PM, said:

hey cory

you shouldnt get ride of your bichir. i was talking to a lady at my lfs and she said she has hers in her tank with tetras and guppies and other fish and they dont get harrassed as long as you feed them plenty. if you still wanna get ride of the bichir let me know. email me at Littleboy21@sbcglobal.net. i am getting my new aquarim geared for a bichir. i will gladly take it in.

Don't believe everything 'certain' lfs may tell you, some of them only want to get your money. I very much doubt she keeps a polypterus with tetras and guppies.

More likely she is either telling porkies or has something completely different. I even heard one lfs trying to sell a newbie a shoal of male betta splendis

[scyrius]

Hey I had a question about Senegalus Bichir. I have one (I have NO idea what variation but that's unimportant) and was wondering whether anyone knew whether they were blind or not. I had heard that they have a HIGHLY developed sense of smell and I've noticed that they rarely seem to zero in on things by SEEING it and rather swim around until they smell something and then slowly search it out. Anyway, lemme know please. Also, are these fast-growing fish? I have mine in a 55 gallon aquarium with some African Cichlids and haven't had any trouble (as far as aggressiveness goes) but wanted to know if there would be enough space for all of my fish. There's PLENTY of cover (plants, driftwood decorations, etc.) but the tank IS filled with Africans, all of which are expected to be at list 5." I have 7 Africans in the tank, a large pleco, and the senegal. Too much or will I be okay?

[CFC]

The bichir wil be fine with the africans, they are too big for it to eat and it has plenty of hiding places to hide from them if they get aggro, just dont expect any fry that may come along to survive. Bichirs do have very poor eyesight and as you said find most of their food by smell, however do not be fooled, they are still highly efficient predators once the lights go out.

[cory]

I've read that bichirs should't be kept with Africans, because, even tho they are predators, by nature, they aren't built to handle attacks.